Anglo-Australian firm Tower Transit launches bus service in Singapore

Tower Transit, Singapore's third bus operator, officially launched its first services on Sunday.

After the hand-over was completed from the existing bus operator SMRT Corporation, the first buses arrived at Bukit Batok interchange early in the morning. At around 5.30am, bus number 945 started from Bukit Batok bus interchange.

The Anglo-Australian firm targets to deliver higher bus standards for commuters in Singapore.

More than 20 bus enthusiasts turned up at the bus interchange to experience the first Tower Transit buses arriving from the depot.

David Yeo, a 42-year old technician was one of the commuters onboard Tower Transit's first services, number 106. He told The Straits Times, "The service so far is okay, I didn't not notice any change. But let's see how it goes."

The buses were painted in green, which has been selected by the public through a voting process for buses under the contracting model.

According to the new rule, all buses and infrastructure will be under the ownership of the government. The routes will be given to the operators to run for a fee.

Tower Transit said that 62 of its buses will be operating on Sunday while 94 buses will be there on Monday. The company also said that some of the bus services will be operating with two drivers during the week including a bus guide for the less experienced drivers. This will ensure smooth operations and provide a good service.

This will start operating in three phases. In this phase, 26 bus services will start comprising almost 370 buses from three bus interchanges, including Clementi and Jurong East.

The buses will terminate at the Bedok, Marina Centre, Shenton Way and Toa Payoh interchanges. The next two phases will be launched in June.

In May 2015, Tower Transit was given the inaugural tender to operate 26 routes in the western part of Singapore, beating the other two services, SBS Transit and SMRT.